Kakashi and Maximus appeared at the construction site, to see Tazuna behind his students. While Gato stood on the other side, with more than a hundred crooks, thugs, and non-shinobi mercenaries behind him. They held the construction workers captive, not so keen to let them go. Gato, a short man in a black suit, grey hair, and a balding head, wearing black glasses and carrying a stick, grinned. He looked up at Tazuna and spoke,
"Look bridge-builder, I am in a good mood today so I am not so keen on killing these poor workers. If you turn yourself in, you can save the others." Tazuna stayed quiet, Naruto gritted his teeth. Gato grinned again,
"So it's a no huh? Well, the blood of these workers and yourself will be on your hands." Saying this, Gato motioned some of his thugs. Seeing this, Kakashi and Maximus rushed forward. In a second, Maximus was in front of Gato and ready to cut the tiny man into pieces, but as he swung his blade, the katana halted mid-air with a clang. Maximus looked forward and saw Zabuza, who had blocked Maximus' attack with his giant blade. The Roman glared at Zabuza for a while and then got back beside Kakashi.
Zabuza slowly walked towards the two Konoha ninjas, his blade sliding over the bridge's concrete and leaving marks. He stopped when he was face-to-face with Kakashi and Maximus and got back into a battle stance. He then rushed at Kakashi with the blade, almost hitting him. The masked ninja got behind the tall Zabuza and punched him on the side of his stomach. Zabuza gave a light groan but didn't stop, his cumbersome weapon wasn't so good against these quick men.
Zabuza went for clones again and created more than a dozen. The fight went on fiercely, with Zabuza's clones almost overwhelming the Konoha ninjas. Zabuza sent wave after wave of clones, who didn't make much difference to the fight but were slowly tiring Kakashi and Maximus. Team seven stayed back with Tazuna, surrounding him. But as the fight went on, Kakashi spotted his Sharingan a shinobi speeding toward the engineer and his students. Kakashi looked back in an attempt to warn his students, but he was too late.
The ninja flew forward with almost imperceptible speed, and flung several sharp needles at Sasuke and Naruto in mid-air; two of which hit Sasuke on the back of the palm. The Uchiha groaned and held his hand. The shinobi also appeared, he was the same guy who had supposedly taken Zabuza's 'corpse'. In his quite usual manner, Naruto rushed at him. he went for a punch, but Haku easily dodged it and flung Naruto upside down with one hand. Sasuke, who had carefully removed the needles in great pain, also lunged forward with his one tomoe sharingan. He was met with some success, as his dojutsu allowed him to predict the opponent's moves and he could put up a fight. But in the end, one miscalculated kick also landed him next to Naruto.
Haku now turned to Tazuna, the engineer was now truly afraid and worried. But Sasuke and Naruto got up, the latter creating a dozen shadow clones, and tried to fight Haku. Haku easily dispelled the clones, but Naruto kept creating more and trying to fight. By now, these two boys were only an annoyance to Haku, not trouble keeping him from killing Tazuna.
"You two are irritating. If you wanna fight so hard, you can be test subjects for my most recent jutsu." Haku spoke in a cold voice,
As he did so, Naruto went for another attack. This time, Haku punched him hard in the face and sent him flying to one end of the bridge, same with Sasuke. The punch was hard enough to dislocate their jaws, but fortunately couldn't. The two boys lay there for a brief moment, in shock at the pain. But that was enough time for Haku, who arrived before them and promptly made a few quick hand signs.
Immediately, blue chakra surrounded the two genins. In a few seconds, the chakra started 'crystallizing' around them and forming into large rectangular mirrors. In a few minutes, there were more than two dozen of these mirrors now surrounding the two boys in multiple layers. The sun's rays were almost completely blocked by these mirrors, and in all of them was the image of Haku.
As both Naruto and Sasuke got up, they were shocked and alerted by this jutsu. More than two dozen mirrors float around them in multiple layers, almost completely blocking off the sunlight, and Haku's figure in each one of them hits Sasuke and Naruto in the arms and back respectively. The wound was painful, but hadn't pierced deep and thus not lethal. Naruto gasps in pain, while Sasuke musters his strength and plucks out the senbons in a painful process.
Sasuke got ready, gritting his teeth and activating his one tomoe sharingan. He went for a strike and kicked through two of the mirrors hard. For a slight moment, he could see the outside, but the area was covered with mirrors as soon as it opened. Haku threw several more senbons at Sasuke who couldn't decipher where the projectiles were coming from. Haku's figure seemed to be constantly moving across the mirrors, striking from unexpected directions.
This went on for a while, with Naruto and Sasuke trying to break out by shattering the mirrors, in the end only tiring themselves. Haku didn't even attempt an attack, but instead patiently watched them wear themselves down. And after a few minutes, now that both Sasuke and Naruto were panting, he calmly spoke to them,
"Just surrender, you don't stand a chance. I am only here for the engineer, so I'll spare you." Naruto growled in between his heavy breathing, and replied aggressively,
"As if that will happen." Saying this, he spotted the figure of Haku in the corner of his eye and decided to attack. He was successful in shattering the mirrors, but they again regenerated and Haku appeared in another mirror. Naruto hurriedly went for another attack but was stopped by Sasuke,
"Stop it, idiot, you're doing just what he wants; wearing yourself down!" Haku's voice came again, as calm and cold as before.
"The Uchiha seems smarter than you. But that doesn't make a difference when you two will be lying down dead." As Haku finished speaking, more than a dozen senbons flew towards Naruto from three sides. Naruto covered himself with his hands out of instinct and closed his eyes. But there was no stinging pain anywhere on his body, the senbons didn't hit him. Naruto opened his eyes to see Sasuke standing in front of him, his torso and arms riddled with senbons and little blood trickling down his arm and falling to the ground. Sasuke slightly turned his head back and gave a grin of satisfaction,
"I told you, you're weak." Saying this he dropped down, his face going blank. Naruto hurriedly picked him up in his lap and checked him, the Uchiha was still breathing. But the pulse was going ever slower. Meanwhile, Haku's voice reappeared; from which direction Naruto could no longer decipher.
"Now it's your turn." But as he said so, many small explosion sounds came from the outside. In a split second, more than half of the mirrors shattered as projectiles went through them with almost imperceptible speed. The mirrors did regenerate, but as they did another volley came. Then another. Suddenly, several pillars of Earth chakra barged inside the jutsu from the ground and outside. It was sudden, and nearly shook the entire bridge. The earthen pillars came from all sides and covered Naruto, while the mirrors were shattered completely.
Haku removed the jutsu and safely retreated to Gato's side. As he appeared, he could see that Zabuza had been beaten back and was standing beside him, panting. He was pretty roughed up with cuts and bruises all over his body, Kakashi also seemed in a similar state. Haku realized who had performed the Earth jutsu, it was Maximus; who was currently over the Earthen pillars he had created, and helping Naruto and the unconscious Sasuke out.
Haku could now also see who had fired those projectiles, it was the Romans. About half of them held strange wooden pipe-like weapons, while the rest were the usual heavily armored infantry, holding their javelins and ready to attack. As the smoke cleared, the scene became clear to everyone. There were about four hundred of the Romans, and Severus standing at the front, a wine flask in his hand.
Maximus helped Sasuke out, who was sent back to the Roman camp for medical attention alongside some soldiers. Naruto got back near Kakashi. Now, the hundreds of Gato's thugs and mercenaries (non-shinobi) were standing face-to-face with the Roman soldiers. Gato lightly chuckled, seeing the Romans with the pipe-like weapons,
"Do you foreigners expect to beat ME with those wooden sticks of yours? Aiming it like a crossbow won't make it one." Severus said nothing, he only took a sip of the wine and smiled. Gato noticed this and signaled to some of his men.
"Two swordsmen came forward, but upon seeing them Tazuna's face turned extremely scared and worried. The two thugs were holding Tsunami and Inari, their hands bound behind their backs. Gato noticed Tazuna's expressions and smiled,
"Surprised, are you an engineer? I already gave you an offer before, but you refused it." Tazuna's eyes were full of worry, and he almost came to tears. He ran forward,
"No please, spare them. I am ready to accept the offer now." But Tazuna was stopped by Severus, who put a hand on his chest and stopped the man from going forward.
"Why are you stopping him, commander?" Gato chuckled, almost tyrannically. Severus remained silent, but then spoke softly to Tazuna,
"Trust me, your family will be okay." Tazuna seemed a bit contained now and backed off. But still extremely worried. Severus remained calm, and spoke to Gato with a smile,
"You're right, Gato. What can these wooden poles possibly do?" Severus smiled and raised his flask in the air, then proceeded to pour it all down on the concrete floor of the bridge.
Immediately, a loud sound rang on the bridge. The next moment, the two men holding Inari and Tsunami dropped down dead, a hole in their heads. Recognizing the opportunity, Tsunami grabbed Inari quickly and jumped down into the water. She knew how to swim, living on an island. Maximus immediately dropped down into the water and helped the two out.
As soon as two swordsmen dropped dead, Severus shouted,
"fire!" Immediately, the Romans holding the muskets fired. There was an uproar among Gato's thugs, as in the first volley more than fifty immediately dropped dead. After this, the musketeers got back to reload their weapons, while the heavy infantry charged forward in a shield wall. Kakashi took the opportunity and used a chidori to finally end Haku, while Zabuza who was wounded from the last fight and tired, succumbed to the musket shots.
The Roman soldiers threw their javelins, which took out a great lot of the enemy and then charged forward in formation. Of course, the thugs and mercenaries were no match for the killing machine they were facing, and many were killed, blood covered the bridge's floor as the mutilated bodies of the thugs piled up. Some tried to escape by jumping off the bridge but were shot down by the muskets, their blood mixing with the water. As soon as Zabuza and Haku fell the battle turned into a massacre, as the fleeing thugs and mercenaries were 'hunted' and killed by the Roman soldiers.
Gato himself was captured amid the battle, getting a black eye from one of the soldiers. As the battle now subsided, and the corpses of Gato's men were strewn around. It appeared clearly that the Romans or the shinobi hadn't lost a single man. By this time, most of the town's populace had also gathered near the bridge to witness the battle. This was good, Severus thought. As the townsfolk are witnessing this, Rome's image might increase in their mind and they support our rule here. But that wasn't of concern, for now, they must punish those who were captured and clean up this bloody mess on the bridge.
The next morning
The previous day after the battle was spent by the Romans permanently establishing themselves on the island. Sasuke hadn't incurred any serious injuries and was quickly out of bed, thanks to the Roman physicians who were best at treating wounds and injuries. After spending another night in Tazuna's home, they were ready to leave.
Currently, Maximus and team seven were briskly walking towards the exit after meeting Tazuna's family and some other townsfolk who came to see them. Kakashi was ahead of everyone else. It was currently about eight in the morning, if they traveled at a fast pace they could get back to Konoha before the evening. As the squad passed through the town square, they could see a lot of activity was going on. People were crowding the square, all cheering and shouting at what was happening.
"What's going on?" Naruto casually asked with his arms crossed behind his head. Kakashi tried to glance over the crowd and then spoke,
"We've got a lot of time, let's see what's going on." Sasuke, Sakura, and Maximus were also curious and happy to oblige. As the team squeezed its way through the crowd, they reached a certain distance from where they could see the proceedings.
A wooden platform was built in the middle, with two large wooden pillars in the center. The old yakuza boss Gato was tied there, his hands bound with chains tied to the poles, while his old and frail body seemed to hang on the chains. There were also two Roman soldiers on the platform, as well as Severus. The people were booing at the yakuza and throwing insults, while some even tried to hurl pebbles and stones in his direction. The Roman commander let it all slide, and after a while as the crowd had calmed down a bit, he acted. Severus raised a hand in the air, commanding the people to be silent; perhaps it was the authoritative manner that emitted from his character, or it was the soldiers. But whatever the reason, the crowd obeyed and there was almost complete silence.
As everything went silent, Severus cleared his throat and prepared to speak. He spoke calmly but loudly to the crowd gathered around the platform,
"People of the Land of Waves, witness how the Roman Republic looks after you people. Here we have detained the criminal, thug, and mafia boss Gato. Who has tormented the people of this island for long enough. So now, I ask you, what shall be done with him?" There was a brief moment of complete silence. Then, a voice was raised from among the crowd,
"Crucify him!" As the words rang out throughout the crowd, other people also started shouting,
"Yes, crucify him!" Then more, and more, and all of a sudden the entire mass of people was shouting the same thing in a chorus. Gato had a helpless look on his face, knowing that death was now imminent. Severus commanded the people to be silent one more time, then spoke calmly,
"Crucifixion it is then." Loud cheers came from the crowd as the two soldiers on the platform unbuckled Gato's chains, and roughly dragged him by the arms down the platform, toward another place.
As this was going on, Maximus whispered something in Kakashi's ear. The latter gave a nod and spoke to his students,
"We should get going now." The genins' faces were somewhat disappointed, as they wanted to see more. But still obeyed.
twenty minutes later
The team was walking down the dirt forest path, the Island of Waves and the bridge were still visible. On the path itself, signs of the battle with Zabuza the other day were still visible. The sun was shining brightly now, and it was hot. Even Naruto took off his warm jumpsuit and was carrying it in his arms. As the squad continued, Sasuke curiously asked Maximus,
"What is this 'crucifixion'?" Maximus first glanced at Sasuke and the others, then at Kakashi, seemingly asking for permission. The masked ninja gave a slight nod while walking, Maximus began to explain,
"It is a form of execution, punishment. A smaller wooden pole is first tied to a larger pole horizontally to resemble a cross. Then the victim is laid on the cross, both his hands are 'nailed' to either side of the horizontal pole, while his legs are also nailed to the pole. Then, the cross is raised and planted vertically on the ground with the victim still nailed to it. The person suffers a painful death, either perishing because of blood loss or thirst. All the while, soldiers occasionally impale him with a spear or hit at his legs with a club." Sasuke seemed a bit intrigued by this, while his teammates were surprised.
"But, isn't that painful?" Sakura asked sheepishly, Maximus replied in an obvious manner,
"Of course, that's the whole point of execution. It is a punishment for the gravest of crimes."
After this, the journey was mostly uneventful, with the squad walking and resting alternately until they reached Konoha.